The Big Cat Coalition Formed in DC

Rose Church a pro bono attorney for the Ian Somerhalder Foundation contacted Big Cat Rescue asking what Ian could do to help Tony the tiger be saved from the truck stop in Grosse Tete, LA.  Ian Somerhalder is the star of the Vampire Diaries and from Louisiana and had a Twitter following of 2.3 million fans at that time.

 

We had been working to save Tony since 2009 and so had the Animal Legal Defense Fund and there wasn’t anything more that could be done at the time as these things drag out through years and years of appeals, so Howard Baskin and I suggested that if Ian really wanted to make a difference for big cats that he help us stop cub handling.

 

Rose couldn’t believe that such abuse actually existed in this country and contacted her law professor, Diane Sullivan, to see what could be done. They thought that bringing together the big non profits who work on big cat issues together for a round table would be a good idea and asked if I knew anyone.  I gave her the contacts we had in the International Tiger Coalition and she managed to get representatives from a number of them to come to a meeting on July 25, 2011.

 

Attendees were:

 

ALDF  Stephan Otto from the Animal Legal Defense Fund

 

BCR  Howard Baskin and Carole Baskin from Big Cat Rescue

 

BF USA  Adam Roberts and Tracy Coppola from Born Free

 

GFAS  Patty Finch from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries

 

HSUS  Debbie Leahy from the Humane Society of the United States

 

IFAW  Jeff Flocken, Nathan Herschler & Gina Miller from the International Fund for Animal Welfare

 

ISF  Rose Church from the Ian Somerhalder Foundation

 

MSL  Dean Diane Sullivan, from Massachusetts School of Law, filmed the Plight of Tigers further down

 

WCAR  World Council for Animal Rights

 

WCCLAS  Wild Cat Conservation Legal Aid Society

 

WWF  Leigh Henry from the World Wildlife Fund

 

Combined we represent more than 18 million supporters.

 

Each of us had come there to decide how we could end the big cat crisis.  Each person around the table said what they thought the biggest contributing factor to big cat abuse and extinction was.  No one mentioned cubs and I was the last or next to the last to speak. I said that if we end the cub handling, all the other abuses fall away; circuses, private ownership, illegal trade and the smokescreen for illegal trade which was causing extinction in the wild.  We agreed on a three prong approach that day:

 

1. Rescind the generic tiger loophole with USFWS.

2. Force USDA to enforce the Animal Welfare Act  which should already be interpreted to not allow cub handling.

3. A federal ban on cub handling and private ownership.

 

https://bigcatrescue.org/big-cat-coalition/

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

Sheba the Black Jaguar

This month I would like to tell you about Sheba the black jaguar; a cat who should be here but isn't.  For years people complained to us about a black jaguar who would pace constantly in a small pit at Cypress Gardens.  Big Cat Rescuers, Barbara Frank and Julie Hanan went to Cypress Gardens to check it out and brought back disturbing video that showed the jaguar to pace so consistently that there was a worn, dark mark in the wall from her pushing against it.

 

We met with Cypress Gardens staff to try and help them come up with ways to give Sheba privacy and enrichment so that she might stop pacing.  They ignored us.

 

Later, when Cypress Gardens had gone bankrupt and were looking to dispose of all of their animals, we offered to take Sheba, but instead they sent her to Dade City’s Wild Things.  Last year a former employee of DCWT brought me a photo of Sheba, her face swollen and blood dripping from the oozing wound.  Even though she was too old to breed, the owner of DCWT, Kathy Stearns, had put her in with a male jaguar.  Sheba had killed the male jaguar and suffered considerable trauma to her head and face.  We, and the employee, reported this to USDA and FWS along with the photos and the employee’s letter stating that Kathy never gave the jaguar medical care for the wounds.  Sheba was again on our minds as we went to lobby in D.C. for laws that would prevent cats like her from ending up in private hands.

 

Big Cat Rescuers, Jeff & Coleen Kremer and Howard & Carole Baskin just returned from Washington, D.C. in the sanctuary’s 7th annual trip to meet with other animal lovers where they petition lawmakers to enact more humane legislation.  One of the best takeaways from the conference each year is the Humane Scorecard which lists all of the animal legislation from the previous session and how YOUR lawmaker voted.  Howard said, “It’s just like homecoming every year to reunite with such great people who are working hard to end animal abuse.”

 

The four Rescuers went up early in order to make this the most profitable conference for big cats ever.  Howard and Carole met with Richard Patch and Sara Amundson of the Humane Society Legislative Fund to get their expert advice on the best ways to end the abuse of tiger and lion cubs who are bred for pay-to-play schemes.  They had similar meetings with Adam Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA, Cynthia Armstrong, the State Director of HSUS in Oklahoma, and many others too numerous to recount here.

 

The conference workshops were excellent, as usual and there was a private screening of The Elephant in the Living Room along with a Q & A with the producer, Mike Webber and the star, Tim Harrison.  The DVD will be out in August and we will let you know when it is available.  The conference concludes each year with Lobby Day where the hundreds of animal lovers from all over the country gather in groups by state to go see their members of Congress.  See photos of Big Cat Rescuers showing Congressional Staff the horrid conditions in which big cats live in the U.S. due to the lack of governance and enforcement.

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Che

Taking Action for Animals Lobby in D.C. with Howie On behalf of The Humane Society of the United States, thank you for your support of this year’s 2011 Taking Action for Animals Conference on July 15-18 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Your generous sponsorship contributions help to make this conference possible and we are thrilled that you will be joining us! Registration: Your sponsorship includes 2 full conference registrations. Click here to begin the registration process, select “Sponsor Full Conference Registration” and use the access code BIGCATTAFA11. You should complete the process for each person you would like to register. Once you have used your two free registrations you will have the option to register for additional full conference registrations at a discount. Exhibit Hall – Table Assignment: Tables will be assigned on a first-come, first serve basis and we’ll do our best to accommodate any requests. We will email your table number(s) once assigned. If you do not plan on utilizing your exhibit space, we kindly request that you let us know so that it does not go unoccupied during the conference. Please call me at humanesociety.org Lobby Day, Monday, July 18th 2011, Schedule and Description: • 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902 • 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Capitol Visitor Center, SVC 200 TIMELINE • 7:30 am – 8:30: Breakfast, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Atrium • 9:30 am – 10:00 am: Welcome, Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902 • 10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Senate meetings ** • 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Brownbag with Wayne Pacelle and Mike Markarian, Hart 902 • 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm: House meetings ** Suggested Workshops for Lobby Day Preparation: During TAFA there will be several opportunities for you to get the crucial citizen lobbyist training that you’ll need for Monday’s Lobby Day. As noted below, only ONE of these workshops is REQUIRED, but all are recommended. See this link for more information about each workshop: https://hsus.expoplanner.com/docs/userfiles/Workshop_Descriptions_TAFA_06-02-10.pdf Sunday, July 17, 2011 • 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Lobby Day Training Session - Part 1 • *This workshop is MANDATORY for anyone attending Lobby Day on Monday. • 10:15 AM – 11:30 AM Lobby Day Training Session - Part 1 • *This workshop is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for anyone attending Lobby Day on Monday. • 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM Closing Session with Stephanie Vance - Author of Taking Advocacy Action for Animals: Being an Effective Voice on Capitol Hill – and Beyond Stay tuned for more helpful Lobby day information and tips throughout the next couple of weeks, and feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best, Kate Wall Grassroots Outreach Coordinator Federal Affairs I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/ I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet. You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

Carole Baskin Bio for Speaking Events

Carole Baskin is the founder of Big Cat Rescue. She runs a real estate business to support herself and volunteers as CEO for Big Cat Rescue managing 107 volunteers, several interns from around the world and 9 staff.

 

She has run this Tampa based non profit since 1992 and has garnered international attention to the plight of captive big cats on CNN, Animal Planet, Discovery, U.S. News & World Report, People Magazine, The Today Show, Sports Illustrated, all of the local media outlets and many more national and international programs.

 

She has lectured in Costa Rica, Panama and many cities across the U.S. on cage construction, legislative affairs, and sanctuary standards in Universities, Law Colleges, and in numerous animal association conferences.  Her efforts, combined with many others of like mind, have resulted in the 2003 passage of the Captive Wild Animal Safety Act which made it illegal to sell a big cat across state lines as a pet, the 2009 requirement that those in Florida who possess Class I animals must post a $10,000 bond and the reclassification of a cougar to Class I, making it illegal to own as a pet in FL.

 

Carole Baskin served as a past President of The Association of Sanctuaries and currently serves on the board of the Humane USA PAC and is the head of the Florida branch.  The PAC is the nation's largest political action committee dedicated entirely to putting animal friendly candidates in office.  Her mission is to end the trade in exotic cats and thus put herself out of business.

FWC Dirty Laundry Conversation with XXXX XXXX came out to view the necropsy reports on the three rehab bobcat kittens who died in 2010 and 2011 so that I would not have to email them in and make them subject to FOIA by the bad guys. There is nothing damning in the reports, but our enemies frequently doctor documents to reflect their allegations and giving them the base canvas was not something I was inclined to do. XXXX was so annoyed with these false complaints that he insinuated are being filed by Kathy Stearns, Judy Watson, Vernon Yates and Joe Schreibvogel, that he said from now on, if anyone wants to file a complaint against us they will have to meet with him in person, sign a sworn affidavit as to the allegations and when he finds them to be without merit he plans to file charges against them for falsifying a police report. Yay! He said that he has never gotten a “real” complaint from a real guest and that all of the allegations are coming from “the industry.” I told him that around here we just refer to them as “the bad guys.” For the rest of his visit he too referred to them as “the bad guys.” I never thought of him, or anyone else at the FWC as having any interest in the welfare of animals. He isn't happy with the current regime, but isn't sure just how bad they will be. The last regime, he confessed, would suppress any attempts on his behalf to bring charges against violators. He would go into a place like Horseshoe Creek and find 20+ leopards, shut into sub minimal kennels where they were connected to a legal size cage, and in his opinion, if the cats obviously never got access to the legal size cage, then it meant 20 cage violations. His superiors insisted that all citations should be consolidated, so if it was 20 leopard cages, the citation should only be for one cage violation. In some cases cats lived 9 years in these sub minimal and illegal cages, but the FWC's administrative judges would not hear the case. He tried to take cases against Darrell Atkinson, Susan Aronoff Bradshaw, Vernon Yates, Bert Whal, and others to the state attorney's office who denied him jury trials and often refused to prosecute at all. XXXX said the only way he could get a case tried at all was to take it to civil court, outside the authority of the FWC. If he continues doing that he won't have a job for long. He had told me before, but relayed again how they managed to shut down Horseshoe Creek. He had 47 citations, even though they had been dramatically consolidated, but no one would hear it, so he worked with the criminal justice system to set up a community service sting. An undercover agent paid Atkinson $400 to sign off on 40 hours of court ordered community service despite not doing them. That was the end of this awful back yard breeding operation that boasted breeding more than 60 leopards, plus lions, tigers, ligers, bears, wolves and more. When he bemoaned the fact that “too many people only give their animals whatever the barest minimum demands,” I asked if there was anyone, other than us, who gave all of their animals a decent amount of room. He admitted that there was almost no one who cared about the individual animal's need for space like we do. Even the larger zoos and attractions, with all of their million dollar public exhibits were usually just the tiniest of cells behind the scenes where they spent most of their lives. I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/ I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my

A Different Kind of Homelessness

 

Big Cat Rescue, in Tampa, FL frequently get calls about bobcats who have been hit by cars.  It is always a challenge to have the caller properly identify the animal.  While every animal life is precious Big Cat Rescue's focus is on saving exotic cats.  Once the caller has described the cat sufficiently the Rescuers hit the road with a van full of nets, carriers, humane traps, flashlights, bug spray, blankets and high hopes of bringing the bobcat back alive.

 

Sometimes though, the cat either cannot be located or even if spotted cannot be caught.  That was the case when a call came in on March 29, 2011.  When Rescuers and licensed rehabilitator, Jamie Veronica, Gale Ingham and Chris Poole arrived on the scene of an accident that had happened on the exit ramp of Interstate 75 in Tampa the caller returned to the scene to help point them in the right direction.

 

The cat was no where to be seen, but as the caller relayed what he had seen earlier, the bobcat ran from the woods back into the busy exit ramp.  Rescuers ran desperately to corral the badly injured bobcat back off the roadway.  Jamie barely missed him with her net and made one last leap after him as he dove into the briars.  The thorny underbrush was so thick that she just hung there, trapped in mid flight, but the tears that sprang to her eyes were not because of the thousands of rivulets of blood trickling from her gashes, but because she knows that you usually only get one swipe at netting a wild cat and she had missed this one.

 

Later on the way home she broke down and sobbed, “I feel like it's all my fault!  I should have been faster.  I was so startled that he was in the middle of the road and I didn't want him to get hit again.  I could see the whole side of his face was caved in, and the blood...I think he lost the eye on one side.”  The scene played over and over again in her head, but no matter how much it haunted her, there was no way to set the clock back and if she could it would have been much further reset to avoid the initial accident.

 

More Rescuers arrived on the scene and the search through the thick brambles and palmetto thick forest went on without a glimpse of the bobcat until around 9pm.  Chris thought he saw a shimmer of brown fur but it moved quickly past him, leapt up onto a log, and then disappeared completely.  The searchers tried to circle around the area, but it was dark and the woods were full of trash.  Pieces of plastic and broken bottles reflected back millions of false illusions of eyes.  Each had to be investigated to rule out what was garbage from what may be a one eyed cat.

 

The bobcat was not sighted again and the search party, bleeding from battling briars and mosquitos decided around midnight to call it quits and try again at first light.

 

The next morning Jamie and Carole drove out to the scene as day broke and resumed the search.  A humane trap with fresh mice had been set where the bobcat had last been seen, but the hazy morning light revealed that it had not been successful.  The stress of having been so close and yet not being able to catch the bobcat on the first try had kept Jamie up all night, but she was determined to find the cat on this morning and get him to a hospital.

 

Hours passed, and she saw just the slightest hint of brown fur in the thick palmettos but despite all of her skill and practice as a wildlife tracker, she could not get close enough to see if it was a bobcat, or a rabbit, or a rat, or squirrel, or a raccoon.  It disappeared instantly and not another sound was heard.  The only evidence of life were the discarded clothes and food containers that had belonged to the homeless who live in this small patch of woods.

 

Those who hate Big Cat Rescue for the work we are doing to end the trade and exploitation of big cats had filed a 22 page false complaint with USDA.  The inspectors arrived at the sanctuary to do an investigation so Rescuers lost the rest of t

How Kanawha Got Her Name

 

Through making some stupid choices as a kid, I ran away from home at the age of 15.  I isolated myself from family and friends, was living on the street, eating out of dumpsters and sleeping under cars.  I worked as a waitress and often held three jobs at a time.

 

I worked in a breakfast room mornings, served lunch and dinner at a Greek Restaurant, and then worked till 2 am serving drinks in bars until they figured out that I was under age and I'd have to move to the next bar.   Eventually I was able to earn enough to rent an unheated garage.  It had a toilet, sink and bathtub but the water to run them all was via a garden hose I ran in through the broken window.  There was no A/C, no fan and only the heat of one small space heater that I bought.  One night, thinking I would freeze to death I fell asleep too close and caught my hair on fire.

 

The clothes I left home with hung on my skeletal frame now as I had been reduced to just skin and bones.  I used an old rope for a belt and even my shoes were too big now and caused blisters on my feet as I had to walk to and from all of my places of work in Charleston, W.Va.

 

I lived with a 6'4" 250 lb mutant named Jim Jones, who was a drug addict who routinely beat me within an inch of my life.  No matter how hard I worked, it was never enough to support his habits.  Sometimes I would be out of work for weeks because I couldn't be serving food with blackened, swollen eyes and bloodied lips.  It was then that I was at my lowest and often felt that I just couldn't keep going.

 

One night as I was walking home to my garage I deterred toward the Kanawha River bridge. I climbed as high as I could go and, borrowing a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, figured the fall alone would kill me.  I slipped off my shoes and did a swan dive into the icy waters of the Kanawha River.

 

Much to my surprise, the fall didn't kill me, but as I surfaced I wondered if hypothermia might.  Feeling really stupid I thought to myself that I couldn't even commit suicide right…Then I heard the voice of a man screaming from the bridge, "Don't worry!  I'll save you!"

 

To my horror, a homeless man who had apparently watched me jump, had now leapt off the bridge to rescue me.  Being in considerably worse condition than me, and drunk to boot, his rescue effort resulted in me dragging him back in to shore, but I was touched nonetheless.  His selflessness in the face of what little he had to give showed me that no matter how bad things are, you can help someone else; you can make a difference, if you just never give up.

 

Fast forward to 1994 and a terribly skinny Siberian Lynx arrives.  She was so far gone, and yet tenaciously held on to life and her indomitable spirit.  She reminded me that no matter how difficult life becomes we never know what is just around the corner.  If we have faith, stay positive and NEVER EVER, EVER GIVE UP, we will succeed.

 

I named her Kanawha so that every time I thought her name, I would be reminded to never give up.  Now I volunteer with the Homeless Coalition and speak at their events to encourage others who are homeless to keep trying and to let their donors know that the people they help could one day be paying it forward.

 

Kanawha is 22 now, and as most of you know has lost her soul mate Katmandu who was 19.  Kanawha suffers from seizures when she hears the lawn mower so we have moved her back into the wooded area of the sanctuary beyond Cameron and Zabu so that her final days are as stress free as possible.

 

As always, I want to thank all of you who give so deeply of yourselves to these animals.  It is the inspiration that enables me to deal with the dark side of the enemies we face who seek to abuse and exploit big cats.

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should

Fantasy Portrait for Jamie’s 31st Birthday

 

Letter to the artist Christina Hess

 

Jennifer Oliver said you might have time to commission a fantasy portrait for me.  My daughter's 31st birthday is in mid July and I was wondering what you might charge to do a fantasy portrait of her?  She is an artist and a photographer and almost all of the images on our site at BigCatRescue.org are hers and all of our brochures, newsletters, graphics, etc. are done by her.  She has been helping me with the sanctuary since she was 12.  I lost my husband in 1997 and she buckled down and finished school at the age of 16 and as Valedictorian to boot.  Can you tell how proud I am of her?

 

She is an only child and these cats have been her brothers, sisters and best friends for two thirds of her life.  79 of the sanctuary's cats are now over the age of 15 when exotic cats in zoos and in the wild usually die by the time they are 12.  Jamie does all of our assisting with the vet and has had to face so many heartbreaks, with many more around the corner.

 

She used to tease that she would know she had made it in life when she had her own action figure.  I think you might be able to create that for her in the way of a painting.  She has great mermaid like hair of long ringlets, hazel eyes and her totem animal is the swan.  She is a rock climber, hiker, who would rather spend her whole life tracking cats in the wild and saving their habitat.  Despite being a tomboy, her best color on her typically tan skin, is hot pink.  Some of her favorite cats are Jumanji the black leopard, Windstar the bobcat, Pharoah and Tonga the white servals and of course, all of the rehab bobcats, as she is also our rehabber.  With your talent and imagination I am sure you could come up with something that would really mean a lot for her, if you have the time.  If you do, what would it cost to do something that is roughly 12 x 12 ?

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

Tribute to Katmandu the Siberian Lynx

Anal electrocution was the only way to escape the fur farm…at least as far as Katmandu knew, until the day his older brother made a gallant run for it. Moments later though, the sickening sound of the shot gun blast and Katmandu knew he would never see his big brother alive again. There was little consolation in the fact that his brother's pelt was now too riddled with holes to become another fur fashion.

 

Katmandu had seen things that you just can't get over. His siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles all killed and skinned for their fur. He and Stalker had been spared because they were the biggest and most handsome lynx yet and their owner knew that their size and looks would pass on even better coats to "harvest."  They weighed 90 pounds each when grown.

 

When we arrived in 1993 Katmandu was only a year old, but he had seen the inhumanity that man was capable of and would never forget it. His little sister, Natasha, was too young to have witnessed or remembered the horrors of the fur farm and while they shared a similar birth, in the tiny, steel, wire floored cages in a metal Minnesota shed, their attitudes going forward were as different as night and day.

 

One of the first cages built at Big Cat Rescue housed Katmandu. Most cats figure out pretty quickly that coming here really is life on "Easy Street" but I don't remember a time in those early years that Katmandu didn't puff at me and strike the side of his cage whenever I would walk by. I always tried to give him an extra wide berth so as to not frighten him into such displays but, unlike the rest of the cats here, he never trusted me.

 

When we had to give the cats vaccines in the early days it usually meant netting them, which involved chasing them around until we could net them and inject them. Not Katmandu. To vaccinate him meant at least three big guys with nets and all of us dressed in enough padding to have been hockey goalies. The moment we stepped into the cage it was "game on" and the game for Katmandu was to see how many of us he could take down before I got him with the needle.

 

Thankfully our cage designs improved over the years so that the cats had a lockout area where we feed them every day that became the area we could call them into for shots. That became easier and easier through our operant conditioning program where the cats learn that coming into lockout is almost always something good like food and treats. But, not Katmandu.

 

It didn't matter that 364 days out of the year there would be something good about coming into lockout, he wasn't going to do it if there was any chance that a human was going to try and get anywhere near him. For 10 years Katmandu was the scariest cat on the property. No matter how much all of us tried to show our love and respect for him, I never saw any change in his ferocity until 2003 when he met, and fell in love with Dr. Liz Wynn.

 

She worked tirelessly with him and his cage mate Kanawha until she gained their trust. I didn't see how she initiated operant conditioning with them, but was just stopped dead in my tracks one day when I saw the result. She was standing over Katmandu who was in his lockout, looking up at her with adoration and expectation as she was giving commands and treats on a stick. There was no growling. No puffing threats at her. No slashing claws. Just Katmandu and what could only be described as puppy love in his demeanor.

 

I began to take note that every time she walked by he came, on the run, to see if she would stop and talk with him. It was one of those little pleasures that put a smile on my face every time I saw it because I felt that finally this brave cat had found a soul mate here, not only in Kanawha, but also in Dr. Wynn. All of the cats here have Keepers and Partners who are especially dear to them and we often note that they pick you rather than the other way around, but to see Katmandu have a person he trusted was something extraordin

No More Snow Leopards at Big Cat Rescue

 

I shut off the Snow Leopard cave air conditioner for the last time tonight.  Cloe the Snow Leopard had just left her exquisite body and was bound for that place where all good cats go when they die.  As I walked to the office, the chorus of lions stopped me in my tracks to listen.  An over-sized butterfly began circling me and then perched on a branch right above my head for a long moment before disappearing high into the boughs of the tree and darkening sky.  I felt it was Cloe;  happy to finally be free and wanted to share the moment with you.  She kept circling before stopping to say, "Good-bye" and leaving.

 

 

 

Note from the future (7/4/2021) I’m not sure the transfer dates in the Snow Leopard Stud Book are accurate, but they could be.  Some of them at least.  I thought that Hercules arrived somewhere around June 17, 1997 but according to the records on file, it says he arrived 6/29/1997.  If so, that means Don gave me Hercules the day before he left for Costa Rica on June 30, 1997.   In Tiger King, Murder, Mayhem & Madness, some people said Don was going to take the cats to Costa Rica with him and leave me behind so the time of this seems to take the wind out of that sail.  There would never be a better time for Don to try and smuggle a snow leopard to Costa Rica than that trip because Hercules would fit in a pet cat carrier and he was already down in West Palm Beach with Marc McCarthy, so Don could have flown the cub out of Miami, or via barge, rather than bring him to me as a belated birthday gift. 

 

At the time that Don gave me Hercules, he said that he’d paid $10,000 each for him and a female from Marc McCarthy, but that the female was going to the Dallas Zoo to be on display while she was a cute cub and she would come to us as soon as she grew up.  I didn’t know about the stud books back then so I didn’t know that Hercules, Cloe and Zoe were all born at John Aynes place called Oakhill in Luther, OK.   I’d heard of John Aynes and knew his lover’s mother had been killed by a leopard at his place.  I think that was around April of 1997.  I think we had gotten a serval or two from him before as well.  What is telling here, is that John apparently sent 4 week old Hercules to Marc McCarthy on June 28, 1997 and Don must have picked him up that day, or the next morning to have brought him to Tampa on June 29, 1997.

 

What is even more interesting to me is that I’d been told the female who would be coming to us went to the Dallas Zoo, but the record show that two three week old female siblings were sent to Fort Worth on May 30, 1997 but when they reached a mere 7 weeks old they were shipped back to John Aynes in OK.  The record is wrong for sure here though, because it says that Cloe came to me  6/29/1997 (same date as Hercules) but she didn’t.  Both Cloe and Zoe came to me on April 20, 1998, but they show here that Cloe was in Ayne’s possession June 29, 1997 and came to me April 20, 1998.  Zoe’s record is all messed up as it claims she came to me with Hercules June 29, 1997 and then went back to Aynes on April 18, 1998 and then to McCarthy on April 20, 1998 and showed her dying there on Aug. 18, 2003.  Zoe died here from a spider bite in 2003.  Hercules died from cancer Jan. 29, 2010.  

 

In April of 1998 when I was contacted by McCarthy, he said that he had the female Don had bought for me, but that her sister would surely die of a broken heart if I broke them up.  I didn’t want her to end up in the trade where she would be bred to death, so I paid the ransom for her so the sisters could stay together.  By this time they were a year old and Hercules had been living in my house all this time.  This is when my father started building the snow leopard triplex with air conditioned dens, so they would be able to stand the heat here.  I don’t recall now if McCarthy told me, or I assumed, the females had been at the Texas zoo this whole time, as Don had originally told me.